Dr. Judy P. Byers

The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center on the shared main campus of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College will launch the new “Appalachian Italian Folk Cultural Series” with a special event on Sunday, Nov. 11.

An April event in Clarksburg will honor a prominent Italian family and raise funds to support scholarships for Fairmont State University students to participate in an exchange program with the University of Calabria in Italy.

The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center on the campus of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College is sponsoring a study and travel abroad program in the summer of 2012 called Roads to Appalachia through Northern Ireland.

A team of Fairmont State University students traveled to Washington, D.C., earlier this month to present their research on economic sustainability in Helvetia, W.Va., through heritage tourism as part of the 2011 ARC Appalachian Teaching Project.

The Faculty Merit Foundation of West Virginia has named Dr. Gregory P. Noone of Fairmont State University as first runner-up for the 2011 Professor of the Year award. Each year the Foundation honors an outstanding faculty member at a West Virginia college or university.

As part of the Grand Opening Year events at the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center on the campus of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College, a book signing is offered on Sunday, Nov. 13.

Authors Victor A. Basile and Dr. Judy Prozzillo Byers will discuss and sign copies of their new book “Italians in West Virginia” from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Folklife Center. The reception is sponsored by Rocco Muriale of Muriale’s Restaurant. To RSVP for the event, call (304) 367-4403 or (304) 367-4286 by Friday, Nov. 11.

Through a donation by a couple with many ties to Fairmont State University, future scholars and students of West Virginia and Appalachian literature and history will have a new tool to aid their research.

In December 2010 in Washington, D.C, Fairmont State University students presented their research on the coal history of the town of Monongah and a proposed coal interpretive center that will explore the historical and ethnic culture and community.

The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center is sponsoring a study and travel abroad program in the summer of 2011 called Roads to Appalachia through Belgium and the Germanic Roots of Western Germany and Northern Switzerland. The trip will explore our region’s connections to these root areas.